Huge illegal spirits consignment ends up in open-cast mine

Alcohol used to reduce metal content of water in pit

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An illegal consignment of almost pure alcohol, confiscated by Customs officers at the Vaalimaa checkpoint a year and a half ago, was finally disposed of on Thursday by being poured into a surface mine in Pyhäselkä, North Karelia.
      Mining company Outokumpu Mining used the hard liquor to purify the water resting in the mine.
      "Great that we found a practical use for the alcohol. We are more than happy to receive more confiscated consignments in the future as well", commented Eero Soininen, resident manager of Outokumpu Mining.
      The alcohol was brought to Pyhäselkä's Hammaslahti strip-mining pit on a large lorry. The 12-metre container was packed with almost 23,000 one-litre plastic bottles of 96% alcohol.
     
The bottles along with the boxes they were in were crushed, and their contents were drained into the open-cast mine. The disused pit is filled with about three and a half million cubic metres of water.
      The spirits were not denatured before being poured into the mine. According to Soininen, alcohol is one of the best nutrients for the so-called sulphate reduction bacteria, which is used to lower the metal content of the water resting in the mine.
      "Because of the high price of alcohol, we normally resort to using other organic nutrients", Soininen explains.
     
Earlier this year, the Vaalimaa Customs launched a competition to find the best way to dispose of the confiscated spirits. The more than 40 suggestions received varied from internal consumption to cleansing of ears and washing of pigs.
      "We also received many reasonable suggestions. The only limitation was that the proposed use would not create any additional expenses. For example, had we used it as fuel, we would have had to pay fuel tax", explains customs chief inspector Kirsi Lyytikäinen. In the end, Outokumpu Mining picked up the tab for the dumping exercise, and still considered they had got a good bargain.
     
The confiscated amount of alcohol was equivalent to around 115,000 50cl bottles of the popular Koskenkorva neutral grain spirit.
      The Kotka District Court sentenced the two people who drove the consignment into Finland to one year and ten months in prison. Another person was sentenced to one year and four months for assisting them in the carrying out of the crime.
      The alcohol container originated from Vietnam, and it had been disguised as a consignment of soy sauce bottles.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Customs announce competition for ideas on disposal of huge load of contraband alcohol (28.1.2005)
  Nearly 140 years of Finnish alcohol regulation (26.8.2003)

Links:
  Finnish Customs

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